Movable guide rail structure for rail way flat cars



i Q United States Patent on 3,543,693

[72] Inventors HIV-MM; 3,437,056 4/1969 OLeary l05/368(B)UX Jlll D. "0,8!. Charles, Mlflttlll'i 3,440,971 4/1969 O'Leary et al. ..l05/368(B)UXE; 9 Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman I 0 4s Patented Dec. 1, mo 4W?[73] Assignee ACF Industries, Incorporated New York, New York acorporation oINew Jersey ABSFRACT: A guide rail structure for a railwayflat car com- [54] MOVABLE GUIDE RAIL STRUCTURE FOR prislng a pair ofspaced rails each including a plurality of ahned sections. The guiderail sections are mounted for move- RAILWAY FLAT CARS I 5 cm, 8 Dam" a.ment between a wheel guide posmon extending longitudinally of the deckfor guldlng wheels of roadway vehicles and a load 105/358, supportposition extending transversely of the deck for sup- [Os/36$ .4 l l9.porting ladings thereon. Releasable locking means adjacent an 7": end ofeach movable guide rail section secures the guide rail 5/ 361d 47/00section at the transverse and longitudinal positions and is 1 Heliumlifted upwardly to release the guide rail section for pivotal M), 9movement between the load support position and the wheel 2 I 292/! guideposition. A downward extending projection on the guide rail section isreceived within an associated slot when the rail [56] section isproperly positioned and the locking means then UN STATES PATENTSmoves'by gravity into the associated slot to automatically lock1,570,]95 H1926 Ausdal 292/136 the guide rail section in position. v

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l atented Dec. 1, 1970 Sheet 3 of5 FIG. 4.

FIG. 7.

Patented Dec. l,'

Sheet 4 015 FIG. 6.

FIG. 5.

Patented 'Dec. 1, 1976 Sheet 1 MOVABLE cums RAIL srrwcruas rou RAILWAYFLAT cAas BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION Copending applicationSer. No. 602,65l filed Dec. 19,1966 and entitled Guide Rail Structurefor Railway Flat Cars", now US. Pat. No. 3,437,056, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated by this reference, discloses a guiderail structure in which guide rail sections are movable between a wheelguiding position extending longitudinally of the deck and a loadsupporting position extending transversely of the car for supportingloads, such as lumber or containers.

The present invention is directed to a specific guide rail section whichis adapted for use with the general arrangement illustrated inapplication Ser. No. 602,65l and particularly to means for securing-themovable guide rail sections insuch predetermined positions. A downwardextending projection on the end of the movable guide rail sections isadapted to be receivedby a slot at each of the positions for accuratelypositioning the guide rail section. A releasable locking meanscomprising a handle or locking member maybe gripped about its upperendandlifted upwardly for releasing the guide rail section. The lockingmember is mounted on the guide rail section for generally verticalrelative movement and has a lower end which fits in the associated. slotfor releasably securing the guide rail section at thepredetermined'positions after the associated downwardly extendingprojection is received within a slot. A detent on the lower end of thelocking member moves beneath the adjacent surface defining the slot toreleasably secure the guide rail section upon the downward movement ofthe locking member by gravity when positioned over an associated slot.An upward lifting movement of the locking member removes the lockingmember from the slot to permit pivoting of the guide rail section.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one form of the invention isillustrated,

FIG. 1 is a plan of a railway flat car embodying the present inventionillustrating a portion of the length of the'flat car;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan of a guide rail section embodying the presentinvention; t

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the guide rail section shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken generally along line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of the guide rail section shown in FIGS. 2-3illustrating the releasable locking member in locked position;

FIG. 6 is an end elevation similar to FIG. 5 but illustrating thereleasable locking member in an unblocked position;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan of the cooperating slotted structure on theside sill to receive the releasable locking member;

and

FIG. 8 is a side elevation of the guide rail section in an unlocked andreleased position for pivotal movement between transverse andlongitudinal positions on the railway car deck.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of thisinvention, a railway car generally indicated 10 is illustrated in FIG.land includes an underframe having a deck 12. A side sill 14 of theunderframe extends along each side of deck 12. Mounted on deck 12 are apair of guide rail structures generallyindicated 16 and extendinglongitudinally of car 10 to guide the wheels of roadway vehicles and thelike moving along deck 12. A suitable collapsible hitch generallyindicated 13 may be mounted between guide rail structures 16 and isadapted to secure the kingpin of trailers when flat car 10 is employedin the transit of trailers.

Each guide rail'structure 16 includes a plurality of movable guide railsections generally indicated 20 of a length generally one-half the widthof deck 12 and arranged in an end-to-end relation extendinglongitudinally of deck 12 when employed as a guide rail structure asshown in FIG. 1. Movable guide rail sections 21 similar to sections 20are mounted adjacent hitch 18 and are of a length shorter than thelength of movable sections 20 to provide clearance for hitch 18 whensections 21 are'moved to a transverse position with respect to deck 12.A

.flxed short length guide rail section 22 is secured to deck 12 adjacenteach end of guide rail structure 16.

Each guide rail section 20 is generally channel-shaped forming an upperwall 24 and integral sidewalls 26. An opening 28 in upper wall 24provides a handhold for gripping section 20 for manual movement. Atransverse reinforcing web 30 extends between walls 26 adjacent an outerend of guide rail section 20. A lower intermediate web 31 between walls26 extends horizontally from web 30 closely adjacent deck 12 and has anupturned end flange 32 adjacent the inner end of section 20. An opening33 in web 31 adjacent end flange 32 receives an upstanding pivot 34formed of a cylindrical section secured by welding to deck 12. An uppercircular end 36 secured to pivot 34 has a circumferential marginal rim38 extending outwardly from pivot 34 to prevent removal of section 20from pivot 34. As shown in FIG. 4, rim 38 is positioned closely adjacentsidewalls 26 and prevents overturning of guide rail section 20. Adequateclearance is provided between the edge of web 31 defining opening 33 andcylindrical pivot 34 to permit tilting of guide rail section 20 as shownin FIG. 8.

A tapered end portion 39 on the outer end of guide rail section 20includes an end plate 40 having a lower projection or lip 41 extendingdownwardly below sidewalls 26 of section 20. Deck 12 has slots 42therein as shown in FIG. 1 and projection 41 is received within anassociated slot 42 when guide rail section 20 extends in a directionlongitudinally of car 10. Mounted along each side sill 14 adjacent eachguide rail section 20, 21 is a stop plate 44 having an outwardly facingslot 46 therein and retainer lugs 48 defining slot 46 and projectingoutwardly from the outer face of sidesill 14 a distance of around 1inch. Upon pivoting of guide rail sections 20, 21 from a positionextending longitudinally of car 10 to a position extending transverselyof car 10, projection 41 is received within slot 46 and adjacent lugs 48restrain horizontal movement ofguide rail sections 20, 21.

To restrain upward movement of guide rail section 20 when associatedprojection 41 is received within slot 42 or 46, a releasable lockingmember or lock plate generally indicated 50 is mounted on the outer faceof end plate 40. Headed studs 52 and 54 are secured to the outer face ofend plate 40 and lit within associated respective slots 56 and 58 oflocking member 50. An elongate opening 60 in member 50 provides ahandhold for manually gripping member 50 and moving member 50 verticallyupward. Each slot 56, 58 has an upper vertical slot portion 61 and alower inclined slot portion 62. The lower end of locking member 50 is ofa width substantially less than the lengthwise dimension of elongateslots 42 and 46 and an outwardly extending lip 64 forms a detent whichcontacts the lower surface of superjacent lug 48 to limit upwardvertical movement of guide rail section 20 until locking member 50 islifted. Elongate slots 42 are of the same dimensions as slots 46 and lip64 likewise prevents removal of projection 41 from slots 42 beforelocking member 50 is manually lifted. Upon a manual lifting of lockingmember 50, inclined slot portions 62 direct locking member 50 laterallyto remove lip 64 from beneath the adjacent surface of lugs 48 when guiderail section 20 extends transversely of deck 12 and from beneath thesuperjacent surface of deck 12 when guide rail section 20 extendslongitudinally of deck 12 to form a guide for the wheels of roadwayvehicles.

When guide rail sections 20 and 21 extend transversely of deck 12,ladings, such as banded lumber, may be loaded onto locking member 50is'lifted by gripping about opening 60,

then guide rail section-20 may be lifted manually by gripping 'athandhold 28 to withdraw projection 41 from slot 42. Proje'ction 41 maythen be positioned on the upper surface of the deck as shown in FIG. 8and moved along the deck surface about cylindrical pivot 34 to slot 46.Projection 41 is received within slot 46 with locking member 50 in araised position. As projection is supported on the deck, no loads aretransmitted through locking member 50. Upon projection 41 being receivedwithin slot 46,1ocking member 50 may be released and will movedownwardly by gravity to the position of HO. with lug '64 moving beneathadjacent lug 48 for releasably securing guide rail section in position.The procedure is reversed to move guide rail section 20 from atransverse position to a longitudinal position with respect to deck 12.

in view of the above, it will beseen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results obtained.

We claim:

1. In a railway flat car, an underframe including a deck, at least oneelongate rail section extending longitudinally-of the deck and being ofa length less than the width of the railway car, means adjacent an endof the rail section mounting the rail section for generally pivotalmovement in a generally horizontal plane between the position extendinglongitudinally of the deck and a position'in which the section extendstransversely of the deck, a downwardly extending projection adjacent theother outer end of the guide rail section and an elongate, slot at eachof the positions to receive the projection for positioning the guiderail section thereat, a locking member on the outerend of the railsection adjacent said projection and having a slot therein extending inan angular relation with respect to the vertical, means mounting thelockingmember for generally vertical movement with the lower end of themember adapted to be received within the associated elongate slot withthe projection upon downward movement of the locking member, the lowerend of said locking member being of a width substantially less than thelength of the associated slot and having a laterally extending lower lipthereon, said mounting means for said locking member including a studextending within the angular slot of the locking member for effecting asimultaneous transverse movement of said locking member lengthwise ofthe associated elongate slot upon the downward vertical movement of saidlocking member to move the laterally extending lip beneath a superjacentunderframe surface thereby to prevent an upward lifting of theassociated movable rail section when the locking member is receivedwithin the associated slot.

2. In a railway flat car as set forth in claim 1, said underframeincluding a side sill extending'longitudinally along each side of thecar, and an outwardly facing slotted plate secured to the upper surfaceof the side sill defines the slot at the transversely extending positionof the elongate rail section.

3. In a railway flat car as set forth in claim 1', said means adjacentan end of the rail section mounting the rail section for generallypivotal movement comprising, a cylindrical section secured to the uppersurface of the deck and projecting upwardly therefrom, and acircumferential rim extending laterally outwardly from the upper end ofsaid cylindrical section, said rail section having a generallyhorizontally extending e pi web with an opening therein receiving thecylindrical section.

4. In a railway flat car, a deck, a side sill extending along each sideof the deck, a pair of spaced generally parallel rails extendinglongitudinally of the deck,-each rail including a plurality of alinedsections arrangedin a generally continuous endto-end relation, meansmounting at least some of the rail sections of each rail to the deck forpivotal movement in a generally horizontal plane between a guideposition in which the sections extend longitudinally of the deck and aload support position in which the sections extend transversely of thedeck, a downwardly extending projection on the outer end of each movablerail section and an elongate slot at each of the positions to receivethe projection for positioning the rail section, the elongate slot atthe load support position being on the associated side sill, a lockingplate on the outer end of the movable rail section adjacent saidprojection, means mounting the locking plate on the elongate railsection for vertical and transverse movements with the lower end of theplate being received within an associated elongate slot when theprojection is positioned within the slot and the locking plate movesdownwardly, thelower end of said locking plate being of a width lessthan the length of the associated slot and having a laterally extendinglower lip thereon, said mounting means for said locking plate effectinga transverse movement of said plate upon the downward vertical movementof said plate within the slot, and means adjacent each-slot adapted toengage said laterally extending lip and restrain movement of theassociated movable rail sections after the lower end of the lockingplate is received within the slot.

5. In a railway flat car having, a deck, a pair of spaced generallyparallel rails extending longitudinally of the deck and projecting abovethe deck, each of said rails including a plurality of alined sectionsarranged in agenerally continuous end-to-end relation, and meansmounting at least some of the rail sections of each rail to the deck forpivotal movement in a generally horizontal plane over the deck between aguide position in which the sections extend longitudinally of the deckand a load support position in which the sections extend transversely ofthe deck; the improvement comprising securing means for releasablysecuring the movable rail sections at the load support and guidepositions, said securing means including a projection mounted on an endof each movable rail section and extending downwardly below theassociated section, a slot at each of the positions to receive theprojection for positioning the associated movable rail section, aseparate lock plate on the movable. rail section adjacent theprojection, means mounting the lock plate alongside the projection forvertical and transverse movements with the lower end of the plate beingreceived within an associated slot when the projection is positionedwithin the slot and the lock plate moves downwardly, and an outwardlyextending extension adjacent the lower end of the lock plate adapted toextend beneath a superjacent surface adjacent the associated slot uponthe transverse and downward movements of the lock plate within the slotthereby to prevent upward lifting of the associated movable rail sectionuntil the lock plate is raised, said lock plate including a manual gripfor moving the plate upwardly for unlocking thereof with furthervertical movement after unlocking resulting in lifting of the projectionand section from the slot for movement of the section.

